THE LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY
fimmt Letter
OF NORTH AMERICA
NUMBER 41 SPRING 1992
Part of the site of the proposed Birthplace
Museum
LC Foundation to
Launch Fund Drive
The Lewis Carroll Foundation, a non-
profit fundraising organization, met on
Friday, May 1, in New York and agreed
to launch a fund drive to benefit the
proposed Lewis Carroll Birthplace Mu-
seum in Daresbury, England. John
Wilcox-Baker, of the Lewis Carroll Birth-
place Trust in England, brought the news
that the Trust has recently purchased the
property on which the old Daresbury
parsonage stood, in which Lewis Carroll
was born. Improvements are currently
being made on the property to make it
more accessible for visitors.
Mr. Wilcox-Baker also reported on
the progress being made by the Birth-
place Trust, which has already raised
over £50.000, but needs nearly £500,000
in order to renovate and outfit the build-
ings which have been donated for the
Birthplace Museum.
The Lewis Carroll Foundation pro-
vides Americans with a means to donate
funds to the Birthplace Museum in Eng-
land while still receiving a full tax deduc-
tion for a charitable donation. The Foun-
dation plans a mailing soon which will
not only solicit donations, but also offer
its first publication, the first American
printing of Carroll's Eight or Nine Wise
Words About Letter-Writing. We en-
courage all Carrollians to give gener-
ously to this fitting memorial.
New Topics Intrigue Members
at Spring Meeting by August imhoitz
''En la mondon venis nova sento,"' or "Into the world comes a new feeling,"'is the
first line of the poem ''La Espero'' by the creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof, and
it characterizes at least one side of our meeting at the Fales Library in New York
University's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library building on Washington Square in
Greenwich Village. Our speakers' new topics were the Esperanto versions oi Alice,
original nonsense poetry, and a new Disney application oi Alice. These topics, new
to most of our audience of about fifty members and guests, were the counterpoint to
the well known Carroll texts that served, mutatis mutandis, as
the point of departure.
Mr. Frank Walker, Fales Librarian, welcomed us to NYU
once again (we were last there in 1 984) and explained how the
Fales Collection was really the magnet that drew Alfred C.
Berol to bequeath his remarkable Carroll collection to NYU in
1957. The Berol collection at Fales under the guidance of Mr.
Walker continues to grow, we are happy to report. Among the
treasures of the collection that Mr. Walker had displayed for
us were the original manuscript of Useful and Instructive
Poetry (and he is absolutely correct in saying that there is no
experience like seeing the original), the Looking-Glass Bis- ^''//'«'" J^y Smith
cuit Tin, a number of translations, and, of course, the famous 1865 "lost" Alice.
President Charles Lovett thanked NYU and Mr. Walker, reported on the soundness
of the Society's finances, called attention to the Society's latest publication. The
Hunting of the Snark, illustrated by Jonathan Dixon, which was examined by many
during our break, and then turned the floor over to our speakers.
Winter and summer, whatever the
weather
The floor and the ceiling were
hapy together.
Mr. William Jay Smith, author and
poet, first gave us a brief but intriguing
account of how he came to write non-
sense poetry and then read us some of his
poems, including the delightful dialogue
entitled "The Floor and the Ceiling."
From a thirteenth-century French an-
thology of nonsense in which, for ex-
ample, a herring laid seige to a city, to the
musings of Auden on nonsense poetry
and even to Dr. Freud in the "Sources of
the Comic," Mr. Smith illustrated how
wonderfully human an art form non-
sense poetry is. Through the music of
(continued on page 2)
Editorial —
Sisters, Cousins & Aunts
As many of you know, on April 2 at
1 1 :23 a.m. my daughter Lucy, our first
child, was bom. It was a moment I shall
never forget, but its equal in emotional
splendor came shortly thereafter when
I ventured into the hall of the hospital to
share the news with two of my closest
friends. There is no doubt, as I now
know, that one of the great joys of
having a baby is that which comes from
sharing that new life with others.
When we climbed aboard a plane
headed for New York to take Lucy to
her first LCSNA meeting, we knew that
a flock of surrogate aunts, uncles, and
grandparents awaited her. Never could
we have guessed, however, the won-
derful ways in which she would be
greeted and the smiles she would bring
to the faces of so many. She herself
exhibited her first real smiles moments
after we arrived at Janet Jurist's home!
Lucy attended a meeting of the LC
Foundation, the LCSNA board meet-
ing, luncheon, and general meeting, the
New York Antiquarian Bookfair, and
was navigated through one of New
York's worst traffic jams by LCSNA
founder Stan Marx. Everywhere she
was welcomed with open arms.
Many of you, especially if you have
never been to a meeting, may think of
the LCSNA as just a literary society or
a club of eccentrics. We have come to
realize that this is our extended family,
and I believe that Lewis Carroll, who
unfortunately never experienced the joy
of holding his own daughter, would
take some pleasure in knowing that he
has brought together such a family and
that they have showered such affection
on a beautiful young child.
Lucy is not yet old enough to thank
you for the cake, the beautiful gifts, and
the loving reception which you offered
her. Her parents thank you most sin-
cerely, though, and promise that you
will have the chance to see her grow
from an infant into whatever she be-
comes. She may not be as well behaved
at the next meeting, but we wouldn't
think of coming without her — I'm not
sure you'd let us in the door!
JVlEETING (continued from page ])
words one is transported into a world
unto itself in nonsense poetry. He has
been writing nonsense verses for more
than forty years, and though he says he
sometimes drew inspiration from his
young son, his verses may well owe
something to the influence of Lear and
Carroll. Of his many published collec-
tions of verse, the one from which he
read to us. Laughing Time, has been in
print since 1953. It was rewarding to
meet Mr. Smith.
Esperanto literature, and indeed
there is such a body of work, was the
topic of our second speaker's presenta-
tion. Dr. William Orr is a mathemati-
cian by profession, but Esperanto is his
avocation. He summarized very briefly
the origins of Esperanto, a language
developed by L. L. Zamenhof in the
Polish part of the Russian empire in
1887. Since then, building on simple
grammatical rules, expandable vocabu-
lary, and the ability to form compounds
that would put even the most agglutina-
tive Eskimos and Germans to shame,
Esperanto developed its own literature.
Zamenhof s poem, ''Ho, Mia Koi\"
started its poetic tradition. Now in
addition to poetry, detective novels,
and other original fiction, the corpus of
Esperanto literature contains transla-
tions of many well known European
literary works — two versions of Ham-
let, all the rest of Shakespeare, Dante's
Inferno, and much more.
In 1 9 1 the British Esperanto Soci-
ety published the first, and so far only,
Esperanto translation of Alice 's Adven-
tures in Wonderland. The translator, E.
L. Kearmey, working with a language
only twenty-three years old, faced many
difficulties and could not successfully
cope with all of them. His verses were
pale copies of Carroll's lines. Most
puns and jokes were either ignored or
handled in a footnote! Since then,
Marjorie Walker, a British Esperantist,
has translated "Jabberwocky" and Wil-
liam Auld has translated "A Mad Tea-
Party" and "The Mock Turtle's Story."
Dr. Orr compared some of the transla-
tions with his own, explaining how
they coped with the pitfalls. Rather
brilliantly, this non-Esperantist thought,
he translated "Humpty Dumpty" as
"Hometo Omleto," "hometo" being a
diminutive for "man," while "omleto"
speaks for itself He has translated
most of the poems in the A//r^ books and
is now working on the rest of the text.
As Carroll parodied well known
poems in his own language, Orr thinks
parodies in the Esperanto version should
parody Zamenhof s poems. To trans-
late Carroll' s "How doth the little croco-
dile," Orr took the word "Krokodilo,"
an Esperanto slang word meaning "a
person who speaks his own native lan-
guage at an Esperanto meeting" and
parodies Zamenhof s "La Espero'" with
a poem beginning "'En la mondon venas
krokodilo."" Can anyone not think Lewis
Carroll would have heartily approved?
After an intermission which allowed
us to examine the treasures of the Berol
Collection in a special Alice Room,
John Wilcox-Baker of the Lewis Carroll
Birthplace Trust in Daresbury informed
us that the Trust has purchased the land
on which Lewis Carroll was born. The
buildings burnt down long ago, but the
foundations will be delineated and the
site opened for visitors.
Finally, in lieu of a cast member
from the new Disney Channel series
Adventures in Wonderland, Charles
Lovett spoke briefly about Disney's
long interest in Carroll and showed two
examples of that fascination. In the
1920s Disney made 57 shorts, combin-
ing animation with a live Alice. We
saw one ofthese cartoons, "Alice's Egg
Plant." It had little to do with Alice in
Wonderland, but was an interesting
piece of Disney history. We then saw
the first of 65 episodes of Adventures in
Wonderland. A hip Alice passes
through a mirror after spilling her
sister's perfume all over herself. In a
sort of Looking-Glass Land with much
singing and dancing, she and a few
Carroll characters learn something
about homonyms: sense and scent.
Reaction among our audience was
mixed. One hopes, as Dr. Zamenhof
would say, that these latest works from
the Disney factory will improve.
Following the meeting we adjourned
to a cocktail party at the home of Janet
Jurist to enjoy her warm hospitality and
to renew the many old friendships which
the LCSNA has brought us.
Cf&Tjf ^o^(©p^ sc "^^^i^m,
Woodblock Prints Illustrate
New Edition of Alice
Books of Wonder, in conjunction with William Morrow, has
published an edition of Alice which is probably as close as
possible to what the original would have looked like pub-
lished with 1992 technology. The design and layout follow
the original closely, but the type has been reset evenly in a
face which approximates the first edition. The prime feature
of this edition, however, is that it reproduces the Tenniel
illustrations directly from a set of the original woodblock
prints prepared by Macmillan in 1988. The pictures are as
clean and crisp as you will find in any edition. The book
includes an afterword by Peter Glassman explaining the
history of the illustrations and the woodblocks. Although the
edges are gilt, as in the original (though not with real gold this
time I imagine), the publishers have, unfortunately, made no
attempt to reproduce the original binding. Underneath the
lovely dustwrapper is a dull green cloth binding. With such
exquisite attention paid to the inside of the book, one can only
wish that the outside had received the same care. Still, a must
for any collector and an ideal edition for the first-time reader
as well. $15.00 at most bookstores.
Alice in Computerland
Many of my fellow Carrollians are IBM users, and, while I
recognize the freedom to choose one's own computer, being
a Macintosh man myself it was not without some relish that
I tried out The Complete Annotated Alice, a program de-
signed specifically for the new Macintosh Powerbooks, but
usable on any larger display Mac. The software has been
designed for maximum readability on the book-sized
Powerbooks, but even the developers admit that computer
books will probably never fully replace the real thing. Ref-
erence books, however, are eminently suitable for the elec-
tronic medium, as it provides so many powerful tools for
retrieving information. This
new electronic book contains
the complete texts of both The
Annotated Alice and More An-
notated Alice, including all the
annotations from both books,
plus a new "electronic" intro-
duction by Martin Gardner.
Readers can quickly find the
appearances of a word or phrase
in either the text or the annota-
tions, text can be marked in a
numberofways, and the reader
can even add his own margin
IIUiCOMiM.iriK
notes or more extensive annotations.
The Tenniel illustrations are repro-
duced, rather poorly, on the screen,
but the real value here is one's ability
to work with the text. My biggest
complaint about this program, and one that other reviewers
have had, is that it tends to be a little slow and takes up a good
bit of RAM — but it is still a wonderful tool with which to
study the text of Alice, and the only work which includes all
of Gardner's annotations. A computer program which re-
places the work of both Annotated Alices, not to mention an
Alice concordance, might be expected to command a hefty
price tag — this electronic book will cost you $15, less than
half the cost of More Annotated Alice alone. From
MacConnection (1-800-800-2222).
Collection of Carrollian
Games Published
Lewis Carroll 's Games and Puzzles, compiled and edited by
Edward Wakeling, has been published under the joint im-
print of The Lewis Carroll Birthplace Trust and Dover
Publications. The editor's introduction may be written for a
slightly younger reader than is likely to enjoy the puzzles
themselves, but the heart of the book is the puzzles, games,
and brainteasers. Not only are some of Carroll's published
games, such as Lanrick, here, but many previously unpub-
lished pieces, taken from letters and papers, are also in-
cluded. The illustrations, mostly Tenniel, are reproduced
rather poorly, but in all a charming book, worth far more than
its $4.95 cover price. How many puzzles are there in this
collection? If you know Mr. Carroll and Mr. Wakeling, you
need not ask — 42, of course. At bookstores or from the pub-
lisher (Dover Books, 3 1 East 2nd St., Mineola, NY, 11501).
Japanese Photos Shine
"Alice " in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll and Double Alice is
a beautiful new Japanese publication. The primary feature of
this book for those who do not read Japanese is the stunning
photography which graces nearly every page. There are
pictures of Daresbury, Croft, Oxford, Guildford, Eastbome,
Ripon, and other spots associated with Carroll's life, as well
as reproductions of Alice illustrations by a number of artists.
Anyone interested in Carroll's life will want this book,
regardless of his ability to read the text. No previous volume
has contained such a wealth of quality photos intimately
associated with Carroll's life and work. From The Rabbit
Hole, 3^ Trinity Square, Llandudno, North Wales, U.K., for
£ 1 7 plus shipping (credit card preferred to avoid bank charges) .
Lewis Carroll and the Voting Machine
by Morton N. Cohen
J\s we approach the 1992 presidential election, we
should think about a recurring defect in the American
polling system that cnes out for change. The defect arises
from the passion of broadcasting networks to be the first
to predict the next occupant of the White House. In 1980
and 1 984, the major TV networks declared Ronald Reagan
the winner while the polls were open and voters were still
casting ballots in nearly half the states. The premature
announcement made a good many western voters feel that
their votes did not count, and many did not even bother to
vote, distorting what would have been a more nearly
accurate count of the voter's choice. A cry of "foul play"
arose in a number of quarters.
In 1988, under pressure from Congress, the networks
agreed to withhold predic-
tions of each state' s results
until the last of its polls
had closed. In fact, how-
ever, all the networks pro-
jected President Bush's
victory while the polls
were still open in the West.
Once again the count may have been distorted, and hack-
les were raised.
Will we see a replay of this scenario later this year and
in succeeding election years? Probably, unless some
remedy is found to prevent the networks from jumping the
gun.
The problem is not new, and it is not even a problem
that modem technology has created. The same issue arose
in England in the 1880s, and when it came up, one of the
voices raised against the unfairness of revealing results
early was Lewis Carroll's. Of course, in England the
problem did not arise because of different time zones; the
problem there arose because elections were held over a
number of days, and English newspapers were as eager as
our networks are to scoop the news.
The secret ballot had become a reality for the first time
in England in 1 872, and in April 1881a long letter from
Carroll appeared in the St. James's Gazette on the evil
caused by publishing election results before all polling
ceased. In that letter he recognizes, as politicians and
news commentators realize in the U.S., that voters like to
be on the winning side and that if they know that their side
is going to lose anyway, they might not want merely to
add, as he put it, "a unit to a hopelessly beaten minority,"
and so would not vote at all. He deplored the
unfairness of the results and prescribed a "simple
practical remedy."
His remedy was "that the results of each single election
The results of each single election should
be kept secret till the general election is
over. — Lewis Carroll
should be kept secret till the general election is over." Yes,
it was as simple as that, and he saw no difficulty in shaping
a new law requiring the "boxes of voting papers" to be
"sealed by a Government official and placed in such
custody as would make it impossible to tamper with
them." Then, after the last ballots had been cast, "they
should be opened, the votes counted, and the results
announced." This new method, he points out, insures
secret voting in the truest sense and serves every voter
equally. Utopia, according to Carroll, was worth contem-
plating, but Utopian aspirations could be practical, too.
We may not ever achieve a world in which "no one is ever
bored by a Utopian dinner-party, or overcharged by a
Utopian cab-driver," but we can strive for this just and
truly private form of elec-
tion, even in a"practical age."
Lewis Carroll had 50
copies of his letter to the
St. James Gazette struck
off privately, and he sent
them to influential politi-
cians, including William
Gladstone and Lord Salisbury. In a covering letter to Lord
Salisbury, Carroll insists that the matter was not a party
question but one "of real national importance."
Change takes time, of course, and pressure, and Lewis
Carroll's scheme did not take root quickly. Indeed it took
36 years before anything was done about it. But finally,
in 1917, almost 20 years after Carroll's death, the British
Parliament adopted the plan.
We could learn from England's experience in this
practice as we have in so many others. We would have to
require election boards to withhold results until polling
stations closed all over the nation, from Maine to Hawaii.
We could even schedule different polling hours in differ-
ent states. Western states could open polls on the evening
before the conventional Tuesday and then close at 6 p.m.
on the polling day while Eastern states continued to poll
through into Tuesday evening. The networks would be
confounded, reduced to reporting exit polls, those unreli-
able indicators, as proved in the recent British election.
To come to an agreement will require political action,
of course, because constitutional responsibility for con-
ducting elections rests with the states, but an inter-state
compact on uniform election procedures (which Congress
could encourage) would make it all possible.
It seems relatively simple in fact. Won't we allow the
master of nonsense to teach us something eminently
sensible about our national election process and lead us, in
this case, to Utopia as he lead us, earlier, to his Wonderland?
Carrollian
Notes
Issue 42
Approaching
The next issue of Knight Letter will be
number 42, and as everyone knows,
that number held special significance
for Lewis Carroll. We're not sure what
is the most appropriate way for the
Knight Letter to mark this auspicious
milestone, so we're asking for your
help. Send us things strange, unusual,
and fascinating — anything you think
belongs in the 42nd issue. Try to mail
your contributions within the next 42
days (our real deadline is August 1 ),
and we'll print as many as we can.
Newberry Cata-
logue Published
A catalogue of the Alice exhibition
mounted in November of 1990 at the
Newberry Library in Chicago and
curated by LCSNA member Joel
Birenbaum has been published. The
12-page catalogue includes cover cal-
ligraphy by LCSNA member Alice
Berkey and a one-page introduction by
Birenbaum who writes that the exhibit
tries to answer the question "How can
you have a collection of just one book."
The catalogue describes various edi-
tions of the Alice books, parodies, ref-
erence books, ephemera, and col-
lectibles of all kinds. The items for the
exhibit were drawn primarily from
Birenbaum' s own collection, but a few
items from the Newberry are also in-
cluded. Though the Newberry does not
have a large collection of children's
books (Newberry the industrialist is
unrelated to Newbery the publisher),
the library does have a few important
Carroll items. Of greatest interest here
are the woodblocks for 77?^ Nursery
Alice illustrations which Birenbaum
uses to raise the question "Did
Tennicl really do the redrawings"
as Carroll mentioned in his diary?
Also from the Newberry collection
were five sketches of Tenniel draw-
ings attributed to the Dalziel broth-
ers and copy of the 1865 Alice,
though I feel obliged to note my own
scepticism about the authenticity of the
latter which is tightly rebound, has little
provenance, and has a noticeable dark-
ening of the paper in the gutter of the
title page as if the page had been tipped
in. Could this be a "made up" copy
consisting of an 1865 title page bound
with an Appleton Alice? For more
information on the exhibit and the cata-
logue contact Joel Birenbaum, 2486
Brunswick Circle Al, Woodridge, 111..
60517.
Teller Adds
Annotation
He may never speak on stage, but Teller,
of the Penn & Teller comedy magic
team, wrote Martin Gardner with a dis-
covery he made while reading Extraor-
dinary Popular Delusions. A passage
about popular catch phrases in London
includes the information that at one
time such a phrase was "Who are you?"
The phrase pervaded London, and was
used in nearly any circumstance and
taken as a sign of great wit. When a
judge in one of London's courts inad-
vertently asked a spectator "Who are
you," the entire court convulsed with
laughter and the judge immediately
became popular among accused crimi-
nals. The book is not specific about
when this particular phrase was popu-
lar, so perhaps any reader who knows
more about it might enlighten us as to
whether this may have been an inspira-
tion for the Caterpillar in y4//V^. If so, he
may be a more witty character than
originally thought.
Plans Underway
for Fall Meeting
The Fall 1992 meeting of the LCSNA
will be held at the University of San
Francisco. The slate of speakers is not
yet set, but Society member Sandor
Burstein has made some arrangements
for those wishing to stay in downtown
San Francisco. The Hotel Vintage
Court, 650 Bush Street, (800) 654- 1 1 00,
offers singles or doubles to members
for $99 per night. Please mention Bill
Guedet's name in order to get this rate.
The Hotel David Bed and Breakfast,
480Geary St., (800) 524- 1888 has room
rates from $79 to $ 1 39, including break-
fast and dinner. Both hotels are located
in the heart of downtown.
Several collectors have
several collectors nave d j d T T /^ r^ D A D 1-4 C D ' C r^
pointed out to us that D 1 D L 1 LJ Lj RA 1 fl E K J V^
O
R
N
E
R
there are two issues of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the first edition of A Tangled Tale. One must presume that the first
issue is that in which Alice is advertised on the final leaf as having
reached the 67th thousand and which includes a lengthy ad for the Inde.x
to 'In Memoriam. ' An interesting sidelight to this discovery is that the
Handbook describes just such a notice about the Inde.x as appearing in
editions of y4//cf around 1882 (p. 110). The present notice, which lists
the anonymous Index as a "Work by Lewis Carroll," was published in
1 885, but is probably the same, as it was clearly printed around 1 882 —
the times of the 67th thousand oi Alice. Perhaps the publisher had extra copies
of this leaf on hand and inserted them into some copies oi Tangled Tale — but
were they the first copies? The notice includes text, presumably by Carroll, on
how to account for the introduction of a new section into the poem when using
the Index. The second issue contains a different advertising leaf in ^^hxch Alice
is listed as 75th thousand For the record, there were four subsequent issues of
the Macmillan red cloth Tangled Tale in England: 1 ) with notice of "Second
Thousand" on title page, dated 1885; 2) with notice of "Third Thousand" on
title page, dated 1 885; 3) with notice of "Third Thousand" on title page, dated
1886; 4) with notice of "Fourth Thousand" on title page, dated 1886.
iMfH 0(i^ ra^^oano^
The Essex House of New York lured
diners to their Easter buffet with story
readings by actors dressed as the Mad
Hatter, the White Rabbit, and other char-
acters from Alice.
The White Rabbit from the "Shore Leave"
episode of Star Trek is featured on a pin
available from Starlog Press (475 Park
Ave. South, New York, NY, 10016).
Retail price is $8.
Museum Bookmarks (2 Depot Plaza,
Suite 103, Bedford Hills, N.Y., 10507)
features a Cheshire Cat bookmark
of solid brass electroplated with
22ktgold. Sold in many bookstores
and gift shops for about $6.95.
Co^f^e^pondent^
Alice Liddcll, Lewis Carroll and Alice of
Wonderland — The Welsh Connection is
a pamphlet by Muriel Ratcliffe which
presents a fair assessment of the connec-
tion between Carroll and Llandudno.
The 8-page booklet draws heavily from
Anne Clark's biography of Carroll, and
may finally set the record straight for
Llandudno tourists. The booklet costs
£1.50 and may be ordered from The
Rabbit Hole, 3-4 Trinity Square,
Llandudno, North Wales, UK.
The Mathematical Association of
America ( 1 529 1 8th St., NW, Wash-
ington, DC, 20036) describes its
publication Journey Into Geom-
etries by Marta Sved as "an infor-
mal introduction to post-Euclidean
geometry, brought to life in dia-
logues between three fictitious fig-
ures: a somewhat overgrown Alice,
Lewis Carroll, and their visitor from the
20th century. Dr. Whatif. Price: $21 .
Lisa Arkfeld has written a series of po-
ems inspired by Lewis Carroll for part of
a senior thesis at Vassar. Members inter-
ested in reading her work should contact
her professor, Nancy Willard, 133 Col-
lege Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY, 12603.
Half Moon Harry ( 1 9 South Road, Bear-
skin Neck, Rockport, MA, 01966) mar-
kets an Alice in Wonderland clock with
the Tenniel illustrations handpainted on
a blue background for $50.
• Reminder •
Don't forget that dues are due! Regular
dues are $20 and Sustainer dues are $50.
Remember that all contributions to the
LCSNA, including dues, are fully tax
deductable. Dues should be sent to the
Secretary, 617 Rockford Rd., Silver
Spring, MD, 20902.
Rob Kerr, a young composer from Win-
ston-Salem, NC, recently premiered his
"Lewis Carroll Song Cycle" at a concert
of works by North Carolina composers.
Across the country another composer,
Tom Schnauber, premiered his song cycle
"Carrolls," also based on the poems of
Lewis Carroll, at the University of South-
ern California School of Music.
Speaking of composers, David Del
Tredici's current work in progress is
"Dum Dee Tweedle," a 50-minute work
for solo voice, narrator, and orchestra,
based on "The Walrus and the Carpen-
ter" and surrounding text.
In response to our recent inquiry about
issues of the Index to "In Memoriam, "
Sandor Burstein and Jon Lindseth report
having copies which match the descrip-
tion in the Handbook (with stamping on
the cover reading "INDEX I IN MEMO-
RIAM"). Both also mention that the
cloth may have been brown, but is more
likely faded purple. Both of these copies
are inscribed (one by LC and one by "one
of the Compilers"), so they may well
represent the earliest state of the item.
The Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, MD,
presented Scenes from Alice in
Wonderland, a "mini-ballet featur-
ing a host of funny and memorable
scenes and characters" for an audi-
ence of children on May 17.
The winners of the Sylvie & Bruno
Writing Contest sponsored by Mer-
cury House and judged by the
LCSNA were Chris Michel (age
16, winner of the 12-18 category)
and Ann D. Curie (winner of the
adult category). Thanks to Joe
Brabant and Devra Kunin for helping
judge the contest. The winning verses:
Chris Michel:
He thought he saw a matador
Who swam across the lake:
He looked again, and found it was
A piece of angel cake.
"If I should die tonight," he said,
"Please bring this to my wake."
Ann D. Curie:
He thought he saw a Coelacanth
While fishing from the pier:
He looked again, and found it was
His boon companion's ear.
"Let's settle now," he said, "because
A trial is much too dear."
For assistance in preparing this issue we would like to thank: Fran Abeies, Joel Birenbaum, Sandor Burstein, Morton Cohen, Martin
Gardner. August Imholtz, Jon Lindseth, Stephanie Lovett, Ellie Luchinsky, Lucille Posner, Howard Skillington, Alan Tannennbaum,
and Nancy Willard. Lewis Carroll and the Voting Machine © 1992 by Morton N. Cohen.
Knight Letter is the official newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. It is published quarterly and is distributed
free to all members. Subscriptions, business correspondence, and inquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, LCSNA, 617
Rockford Road. Silver Spring. Maryland. 20902. Annual membership dues are $20 (regular) & $50 (sustaining). Submissions and
editorial correspondence should be sent to the Editor, Charles C. Lovett, 1092 West Fourth Street. Winston-Salem, N.C., 27101.
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